The Case of the Cursed Canvas

I returned to the easel tonight to work on Sean.  My eyes went from the photo to the canvas to the photo to the canvas and back and forth, over and over and over, looking for that place where I would start.  I got to thinking that, well, maybe I’ll just put this one aside for now, start on Monty & Friends, and return to Sean later when…  Hey.  Wait a minute.  The only other painting I’ve ever put aside because it was just bad was Bodhi, which I painted over with gesso and…  Oh.  It became this.  I started Sleepy Seany on it.  Hmmm.

[It’s the canvas.]

Sean (underpainting)

It’s not that I haven’t been painting; it’s just that what I have been painting is pretty terrible.
IMG_0714

I thought that I would just whip this one up in no time, but I could not get the magic paintbrushes to cooperate.  I’d dab a little bit here and there, then turn out the light and run off to bed to read.  So, I wasn’t posting.  What kind of idiot artist would post the bad stuff?  Then I thought “well, what kind of integrity do you have if you post your process of painting, but then only post the ones you deem worthy?”  So, I present that part of the process where you start with a really bad underpainting.

I know that it will get better.

…Actually, it can only get better.

Location, Location, Location

I love NY.  So much that sometimes I think that I’d like to live there.  This past Sunday, I was heading down Hudson in the West Village when I came upon this little tiny shop:

Being Sunday morning, it was locked up and dark, but I pressed my face against the window and peered inside.  Nothing fancy; a workstation with a wooden table, an easel, dirty paintbrushes, and other assorted paint materials scattered around.  A long row of books on art and animals was lined up against the wall.  Yeah, that’s kind of like how I’d want it.  Not too flashy.  Definitely not boutiquey.  Just a little working artist’s studio that happens to be open to the public.  In the West Village.  I must have stood there on the street like a little kid with her face pressed up against the window of a closed candy store.  Oh, I thought, how I would love being here.

I pulled myself away and slowly strolled on, finding a hardcover on the sale table of a little corner bookstore, written by an art critic of his experience sitting for a portrait artist.  I went in, gave them my $5, and continued roaming around the streets.  I was actually aiming for Soho to investigate some art galleries, but, with my new book in hand, ended up ducking into a little cafe to sit with it and an Americano.   A nook in the front window was  empty, except for the pillows that lined it.  Arranging the pillows, I leaned back, sipped my coffee, and opened my book.  Yes.  This.

Back home the next day, I started the day as I always do – hiking with dogs.  Breathing in the silent winter air amid the trees, I thought Wait.  This is why I live in Somerville.  A community with more artists per capita than anywhere else in the US…  except maybe NYC. But here, Rupert and I can start our days by running wild through the woods.

Link (almost done)

LinkyI have to say that the complexity of Link’s coat intimidated me.  As an Australian Cattle Dog, there are so many hairs of different colors all mottled in there together, that I just stared at the photo for a while.  This is a perfect exercise of using oils to layer.  And layer, and layer, and layer…

Once the black dries a bit, I can finish up with the longer and tuftier hairs in and under the ears, on the side of the cheek, etc.

Kiko (done!)

36" x 24"
Of the pics that I narrowed it down to (from the photo shoot), this was not the one that I most wanted to paint; but, now, I see that it couldn’t have been any other.  I love this choice… the way she’s bumbling up over the hill, happy to be a Jack Russell on a sunny day…

This is why the people who live with the dogs get to choose the shot.

Catch (done!)

I put a blank canvas on the easel this morning and thought “Ah.  A blank canvas.  What better thing could there be?” Then I quickly answered “A finished painting.”  So, yea.

Catch is actually hanging at True Grounds for a little while.  One of the (many) reasons that I love supporting local businesses is that they support their community, back.  True Grounds has been so supportive of local artists, and we appreciate that.